Basque separatist group ETA says it has 'completely dissolved'

Basque separatist group ETA has completely dismantled all its structures, ending a 50-year guerrilla campaign, it said in a letter dated April 16 and published by the Spanish online newspaper El Diario on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The group is due to formalize its dissolution at an official event later this week, drawing a line under an ultimately unsuccessful drive for an independent state in northern Spain and southern France that killed around 850 people.

“ETA has completely dissolved all its structures and ended its political initiative,” said the letter, which El Diario said had been sent to several Basque organizations.

ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom) declared a ceasefire in 2011 and handed over weapons in April 2017, bringing Western Europe’s last major armed insurgency to a close.